SUPER GT ISSUES REVISED CALENDAR
Good news coming out of Japan among the current sea of uncertainty: the Super GT championship has issued a revised season calendar that sees its two international events pushed back into winter and the series to instead kick off in July — in contrast to the seasonopener originally dated for April at Okayama circuit.
The circuit will now host the first round over 11–12 July, followed by races at Fuji and Sugo. Rounds in Thailand, Malaysia, and Suzuka circuit in Japan have yet to be rescheduled, having been pushed to the conclusion of the season that is looking to roll over into the winter months (for the localities).
“The rescheduling of the rounds at Suzuka and in Thailand and Malaysia are now under consideration but plans still call for the holding of all eight rounds of this season,” said a statement by series organizer GTA.
Apparently, a preseason test session at Fuji Speedway in June is still scheduled.
Rumours have been floating about that Nissan is in the process of developing a new Z-car for some time now; however, we haven’t had much hard evidence or official word around what that may entail, or when it will happen — until now.
The automaker has filed trademark applications in at least three countries for a new Z-logo, including our own! Filed in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, they show an elongated ‘Z’ with serif ends and a slash across the diagonal — this alone is enough to get Z-fans excited, but it’s the similarity to the original ‘240Z’ design that has enthusiasts talking. The original Z-logo evolved over the years, but this new trademark resembles that of the Series 1 (1970–’71) 240Z.
This design, along with the countries the trademark was filed in, could be a hint that Nissan is planning to make a Z35 global market car, rather than a Japanmarket example that is modified to conform to various countries’ rules.
Nothing is confirmed yet, and manufacturers do file trademark applications regularly to protect intellectual property; in this case, though, the timing and wording are oddly specific, including hints that electric-vehicle (EV) technology may be involved. We won’t know more until Nissan itself comments on the matter.
The world of e-racing is booming right now. Once seen by some as not being a real sport, despite having gained a lot of traction over recent years, now it has cemented its position as the only sport for the foreseeable future. Many racing championships saw the writing on the wall during the Covid-19 crisis and elected to maintain a foothold by switching over to an e-series instead — the likes of Supercars, Formula 1, and even Nascar have all done it.
It’s the latter where this news has come from, when Richard Petty Motorsports driver Darrell ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr abruptly quit an eNascar iRacing Pro Invitational Series race and proceeded to slate the series online. He reportedly struggled with the adaption to virtual racing and used his two fast-repair resets in the first 10 laps on Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, followed by getting tangled up with another driver, which caused extensive damage. Rather than continue to drive the remainder of the 150-lap race, Wallace exclaimed, “Ya’ll have a good one”, on his Twitch live stream, before stating, “That’s why I don’t take this **** serious. Peace out!”
One sponsor took exception to his actions, long-standing partner of Richard Petty Motorsports and one of Wallace’s sponsors for the race, Blue Emu. The company stated on Twitter: “[Good to know] where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We’re interested in drivers, not quitters”.
Richard Petty Motorsports has not yet released an official comment regarding the incident.
For the past 15 years, there’s been primarily one automaker claiming the lion’s share of US national rallying championships: Subaru. Present for the start of that run was motocross freestyle and racing legend Travis Pastrana, having earned four straight Rally America titles from 2006 to 2009 in an Impreza WRX STi.
That drive was taken over by David Higgins, who piloted the Subaru Rally Team USA STi to six straight championships from 2011 to 2016.
However, in a reset of sorts, Subaru Motorsports USA has revamped its team for the American Rally Association (ARA) 2020 championship and given Pastrana the call-up to rejoin the team full time.
He’s now gunning for a sixth US national title — after winning his fifth in the inaugural ARA season in 2017, his last full season in rally racing.
With the season temporarily postponed due to Covid-19, the season-opener has yet to be announced.
New spy photos coming out of South Korea would have us believe that automaker Hyundai is working on a wild 300kW mid-engine rearwheel-drive hatchback. A Hyundai Veloster is depicted on the back of a flat-bed tow truck the side of the car conveniently tagged with a big ‘MR23T’, located just ahead of a massive air intake that suggests this thing is definitely mid-engined.
The Korean Car Blog, from which the photos originate, claims that ‘MR23T’ stands for ‘Mid-engine, Rear-wheel drive, 2.3-litre, Turbocharged’, indicating that the car is exactly that. From there, the blog’s sources claim that what’s seen is just a prototype and the production car will look similar to the current Veloster. However, it’s also claimed that it will be paired with an 80hp (60kW) electric motor hybrid system through Hyundai’s partnership with electric-vehicle (EV) automaker and supplier Rimac Automobili.
Hyundai has been clear that the midengine concepts that it’s played with in the past have always just been engineering testbeds, so this may not be a to-market release, although we sure hope to see it happen!